“Skin hygiene”, particularly of the hands, is a primary mechanism for reducing contact and transmission of infectious agents. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), despite the public awareness of the need to wash hands, the recommended methods of washing hands are not followed. The public does not wash frequently enough nor for sufficient time. It should also be noted, however, that too much time washing (scrubbing) could damage the skin. The Association for Professionals in Infections Control and Epidemiology (“APIC”) recommends washing hands by wetting hands with running water, applying hand-washing agent, thoroughly distributing it over hands, and vigorously rubbing hands for 10-15 seconds while covering all surfaces of the hands and fingers. The APIC recommends an antimicrobial soap or detergent or alcohol-based rub wash for 10-15 seconds to remove or kill transient micro-organisms, for example, in nursing and food preparation applications. The APIC further recommends an antimicrobial soap or detergent with brushing for at least 120 seconds for surgical applications. It is noteworthy to distinguish the difference between “killing” and “removing” germs. Killing germs can be accomplished by the use of specific ingredients that have deadly effect on the life cycle of the germs. Examples of ingredients that kill germs are Triclosan, PCMX (p-chloro-m-xylenol), Quats, surfactants, etc. An example of a formulation designed to kill germs is a sanitizer gel, which is applied to the hands for the purpose of killing germs, but does not remove the germs. The use of a soap, however, leads to the removal of germs, combined with a mild killing action. In this case, the length of time spent washing the hands can have a great impact on eradication of microbes.
Getting the timing right, however, is an issue. For children it is recommended that they sing the alphabet song once or happy birthday twice in order to wash their hands for 15 seconds. For adults there is no good indicator of when the time is up for efficient hand washing. Thus, there remains a need for a cleaning formulation that will provide an indication to the user how long he has washed his hands to indicate that the cleansing is effective and/or to comply with the health protocols.